Cornell & Diehl Burley Flake #1

This flake is delivered as 1/16"x2"x1/2" soft strands that are quite moist from the tin and don't dry out much but pack easily and if done carefully, minimal relights are then needed. Smokes cool and without condensation or any hint of bite. To me, it's just as named with the Burley dominating. I normally smoke VAs or VA/Pers and find this and ~ burleys to be a bit rough on the edges and this one espcially lacking my preferred VA sweetness with the perique way in the background. However you have just true tobacco aroma from the tin and the same in the taste. Reiner's LGF remains my favorite blended with these components but if you enjoy Burley this may work for you.

The tin note is a dark fruit with some earthy tobacco. It smells really good. The "flake" is mostly rubbed out pressed medium ribbon in shades of dark brown and a little tan. It comes a little more moist than most C&D blends. I crumbled it with my fingers into my palm and codger scooped to load. I smoked it as delivered and did not dry it before smoking.

Smoked, this is burley forward as you might guess from the name. I am getting mostly an earthy full taste from the burley. The dark fruit in the tin note comes through slightly in the smoking, and there are a few sweet notes that are the perique/Va contribution. The perique is a mild touch, and there is about as much here as in Epiphany. It is just a hair more than condimental, and you notice it if you are thinking about it. Mostly this blend is burley goodness.

I found this very good and suited to my tastes. It is only available in a 2 oz tin, and so the price point will mean it is relegated to a treat or change of pace. This is an easy 3. I will get more. If you are a burley fan, you will enjoy this.

Interesting flake that is and isn't a flake - at least not like I'm used to. This one consisted of long, "flake-like" strands that weren't connected. Hard to describe but it was an interesting cut. It would not load as a flake and had to be rubbed out.

I found this very good. It has a lot of the wonderful flavor of Old Joe Krantz but did not overwhelm me as that one does with an overabundance of perique and nicotine. This one will bring the fire if overpuffed but treated gently, it sings! Primarily a burley taste with some sweetness and spice from the VA and perique, respectively. If you're a lover of Solani ABF or Wessex Burley Flake, give this one a try as a variation on that theme. This will be an occasional smoke for me rather than one for my regular rotation, but I definitely enjoyed the ride!

I'm not a huge fan of Burley blends but I tried all of C&D's flakes just in case I might like one. Of the 4 I felt this was the best. I actually like it and enjoy a bowl on occasion. Nice nuttiness with a nice muted background of Virginia. The Perique is almost invisible to me. I think I would notice if it weren't there though.

The Burley Flake line by Cornell & Diehl is a treasure. It's the finest Burley I've ever tried. Generally, making straight Burley blends is a risky business; few producers cope really well with that. Burley tobacco easily gets bity or bitter or, otherwise, bland if overprocessed (like in celebrated Solani Aged Burley Flake, a favourite of many but not of mine). In the case of C&D, however, the result is stellar: all four blends are superbly balanced.

All four varieties deliver equally good healthy dose of Nicotine, while flavourwise they are not overly full (they shouldn't be: it's Burley). The flavour is rather thin-bodied, like the flavour of a light liquor (say, tequila) against dark spiced rum. Adding to the similarity with clear liquors, the Burley smoke, instead of flavour fullness, has unique sensatory qualities, unlike most other tobaccos. It's hard to describe the feeling, I just can say I love that soft alkaline "throat hit" when inhaling the smoke a bit.

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Well, that was about the whole line. And now to this exact variety, the Burley Flake #1.

Each of the rest three varieties of Burley Flakes possesses a certain distinguishing feature. For example, #2 is the most "Burley-ish" of the four, #3 is sweet, spicy and delicious, #4 is unique with its subtlest Latakia notes, which, combining with Burley, produce surprising, almost cigar-like aromas.

I find no such distinctive features in #1, however. It's made of the same components as #3 (Burley, Virginia, Perique) plus Kentucky. Apparently, the condimental tobaccos are used more sparingly here than in #3, as they don't seem to manifest themselves in any obvious way. Or else it may be a case known in many other blends, when mixing too many very different tobaccos in a same concoction produces flatter and blander taste than any of those tobaccos taken alone (i'm looking at you, Ashton's Artisanal Blend, the kitchensink potpourri).

Still, even despite a somewhat plainer flavour profile, Burley Flake #1 is well-balanced (its only drawback is that it's balanced a bit TOO well), well-behaved, produces zero bitterness or harsheness and even feels slightly stronger than the rest of the flock (I guess, because of addition of Kentucky to already healthily nicotinized Burley and Perique).

Well, if the other three blends remind me of Tequila, Clear Rum and Gin, let this one be a Wodka: low flavour, high octane.

Burley Flake #1 does possess all the good qualities of great Burley, which I mentioned in the preamble. It's only in comparison with the other three C&D Burley Flakes that it looses one star. It's still way superior to all Burley blends from other producers I know.

Great tobaccos. Try all four of them. You'll be rewarded with an experience you won't get with other blends.

I tried this tobacco because I thought I didn't like burley much and I'd heard that C&D were great with it. So I thought I'd try the best and see if it would change my mind. I chose this blend because I prefer dark burley to light and I'm keen on perique. I also like the 'Old Time' tin art, which is important.

A great tobacco if you want nicotine to out weigh flavour. Not that the flavour is bad, quite the opposite, it is excellent. It's just not strong. The nicotine, however, is. It might not be quite as strong as the Gawith ropes but I'd say it was on a par with Irish Flake.

The flakes are perfect in my tin. Until you touch them. At which point they fall to pieces completely. This may be slightly annoying but I certainly prefer it to having a flake which is impossible to break up when you feel like it.

The taste (which I suspect maybe slightly augmented by some flavouring/sweetening agent) is lightly earthy yet sweet/nutty with wiffs of chocolate. Of course it can turn bitter with if smoked a bit too fast, which the subdued flavour profile can lull me into doing. The burley plays the lead with red virginia as second fiddle. The perique seems almost non existant.

Has it made me a burley man? Maybe not but I quite like it. It seems to me to be high quality tobacco and a very pleasant smoke. Especially good for times when you are feeling the effects of accute nicotine deficiency but your palette is exhausted.

I typically scoff at reviews that seemingly exaggerate the nicotine strength of a blend.

I smoke hand-rolled cigarettes and use dip tobacco in addition to smoking 3 or 4 bowls a day. I've never smoked a pipe blend that brought anything bordering on an overwhelming dose of nicotine.

Well.....this stuff is no BS strong.

I had not read the reviews here before smoking and was surprised to find myself feeling the beginning of vitamin N OD. Then when I did read the reviews it made sense.

It's stronger to my receptors than OJK, Dark Bullseye, Night Train, 5 Bros (yes even 5 Bros), et al. I've not smoked the brown ropes from the Gawith houses so I can't speak to those. but this is by far the strongest blend I've smoked.

But don't confuse nicotine strength with harshness or unpleasant taste.

This is actually sort of a light bodied blend. Feels airy and light. It also has moderately subtle flavors that you have to go looking for, sort of like a good VA. I'd like it to be just a tad sweeter

I found it was drying to my mouth at times. I think another reviewer referred to it as astringent. I agree. But not biting in any way whatsoever. Seems to have dull edges in fact. But drying still.

Many have mentioned the cut. It is a bit different. It seems to be a lightly pressed flake. It's soft, light and broken into strands that are almost noodle like. My tin has only been open for a few days. I expect the noodles will get more brittle and crumbly as it gets more air.

I like this blend. I've smoked about 5 bowls of this now and found it to be pretty consistent. Not really a flavor explosion. But more of a sensory smoking experience blend. A great one for chilling out and hitting the zone.

I have been obsessed with Virginia flakes for the last several months, and thought I would branch out into burleys. Doing some research (on this site, of course), I decided on C&D Burley Flake #1, due to it's slight VA sweetness and rumored cigar undertones.

After smoking two full bowls, I don't exactly know what to think.

Upon popping the tin, immediately sour notes are prominent, mingled with a slight tangy-nutty scent, reminiscent of under-ripe walnut shells. The sourness was much stronger than I had imagined however, and was vaguely off-putting. When I smell a nice strong VA flake it makes my mouth water, but this made me nervous.

However, the flakes are gorgeous. Thick cut, absolutely perfect moisture, and they rub out very easily. Perfect for loading any sort of bowl you like, with any form of tobacco cut. I have tried rubbing it out fairly fine as well as user thicker flakes in a ball (as is my usual preference with VA flake). The latter for me was a much more pleasant smoke, as the thickness of the tobacco helped control the burn and keep it cool. In my Savinelli straight panel pipe (one of my go-to flake pipes, due to the small bowl size) I smoked easily for a straight 35 minutes without a re-light. I usually plow through a bowl in that pipe in under 20 minutes, sometimes even 10.

The first thing that hits me on the char is pepper. Lots of pepper. I tried inhaling, and nope! Not gonna happen. This one burns the back of the throat. Even without inhaling the nicotine content sends my head spinning of I puff too hard. This stuff is no joke.

My first bowl was simply unpleasant. The second (the next morning) was with some black espresso, and was much more enjoyable. If you like dark burleys or want a break from VA and latakia, I do urge you to give this a shot. However, don't expect an every-day smoker, nor a light easy smoke to tickle your taste buds. For me the word that describes this is "contemplative." It's to be smoked slow and cool. It will certainly please, but enjoy it for what it is.

I received BF#1 in an "all-burley" sample pack from C&D. After having gone through all six samples in regular-sized pipes, I figured they were all too strong for me, and considered giving them away or throwing them out. Then, I remembered that using a large-bowled pipe can smooth out strong blends. So, I brought out my Jumbo Oom Paul from Boswell.

What a difference the right pipe makes! In the Jumbo, I found BF#1 to be a strong, smooth, full-flavored burley. I can't detect the perique in this blend at all. Even first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach, this was a very pleasant smoke for me. No hiccups, no spins or sweaty palms.

For comparison, I've lately been smoking lighter burleys like Classic Burley Kake, Granger, and Boswell's Premium Burley. BF#1 is definitely stronger than all those burleys, but smooth, full, and muscular. I'm hanging onto this blend. If it had a bit less strength, it would have gotten four stars from me.